Jane’s Obituary Jane Franklin, widow of journalist Ben A. Franklin, a newspaper correspondent with the New York Times from 1960-1989, has died at the age of 95. Prior to marriage, she had commenced a career in fashion marketing, developing catalogues and early direct mail programs for several DC retailers including Jelleff’s, Garfinkel’s, and Woodward & Lothrup. After the girls had grown, Jane returned to this line of work for several years as Student Coordinator for The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), and ultimately joined Ben in the home-based retirement gig he happily pursued until his death, assisting him in his capacity as Editor of The Washington Spectator, a newsletter published by The Public Concern Foundation.
Born December 27, 1923 at the Community Hospital in New York City and raised primarily in Mt Vernon, Jane Elizabeth was the only child of John Dana Burrage and Clara Dean (Bogart) Burrage. She attended public schools through 12th grade in Mt Vernon, followed by two years at Finch College in NYC. She subsequently was awarded her Bachelor of Arts from Wellesley College in 1944.
In 1943, her father’s career had necessitated a family relocation to Washington, DC, where the Burrages became boarders of the widow Zilpha C. Franklin, then the first woman to serve as information director for the Federal Security Agency, forerunner of the Department of HEW. Jane came “home” on a school break and met, then ultimately fell in love with, Zilpha’s son Benjamin Arthur Franklin. Jane and Ben were married in the Bethlehem Chapel of the Washington National Cathedral on June 10, 1950, and raised their family in Garrett Park, MD.
In the years following Ben’s death, Jane became a resident of Adamstown, MD, at the Buckingham’s Choice retirement community, where she died on Tuesday April 23, 2019. Preceded in death by her beloved Ben (2005), Jane is survived by their three daughters, Abigail Jane (Plumer family, NYC), Elizabeth Anne (“Betsy” of Urbana, MD), and Clare Carruthers (Duran family, Geneva, Switzerland), 6 adoring grandchildren: Amanda vanTassel (Mrs. Jayson Geiser), Sam and Ben Plumer, Gabrielle vanTassel, and Maria and Daniel Duran, as well as one great grandson, Spencer Geiser, the first to inherit the Burrage auburn tresses. She will also be lovingly remembered by her Platky nephews Allan, Peter and Robert and their families, as well as numerous cousins.
Funeral services will be conducted June 10, 2019 at 10:00 a.m. at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Grosvenor Lane, Bethesda, MD, after which Jane will be interred with Ben at Rock Creek Cemetery in the Petworth neighborhood of NW Washington, DC. Arrangements are with the Keeney and Basford Funeral Home, Frederick. The family invites that, in lieu of flowers, remembrances may be made in the form of a gift in her memory to her alma mater Wellesley, payable to Wellesley College, referencing Jane Burrage Franklin ’44.
These monies will benefit current and future students in need of financial aid, and may be made either online www. wellesley.
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